Enough

This piece was performed at the Righteous Voices for the Voiceless, Detroit in 2024. #freepalestine #fromtherivertothesea

You know how they tell you if you swallow a watermelon seed, a watermelon will grow inside of your stomach?
Well a watermelon started growing inside of my heart

See
I shouldn’t be here
I’m not supposed to be here

Standing on this stage calling for justice
Posing as the hero
My voice - Captain America’s shield
Blocking bombs with my teeth
Catching bullets on my tongue
As if MY pockets aren’t creating those drones and magazines
As if I bear no responsibility for the demolition of a peaceful civilization 
As if me expressing my love and solidarity for my Muslim brothers and sisters expels my part in this genocide

“Save Gaza!”
While I hand it all to Uncle Sam
Epitome of the docile niece 
“Ceasefire now!”
While my check ignites the next airstrike

How do I fight off these imposter tears
Near enough to the cause but paralyzed by our shared fears
Afraid of going to jail for tax evasion while i fund an open air prison for an entire nation 

I’m a coward, a phony,
A load of BS
While the real heroes are out there passing the hardest tests
Families ripped apart
And destroyed 
They pray in pain
Their history in flames
While i march in protests 
Head hung in shame
Knowing if the places were swapped
My faith may not be the same
Explosions pouring down like rain
Beloved children become found remains
Somehow they’re devout and slaves to Allah 
Stout in the way they stay on the path
Like the only thing they fear is His wrath
While I’m drowning in a bath of fitna
Scrolling past their heart wrenching stories on insta

Enough!
Enough of the torture and inhumanity!
Enough of the destruction of a people, this insanity!
Enough of the misplaced guilt for the things we can’t control!

How can we stop hiding behind watermelons?
I’ve been trying to plant seeds into everyone I know
but they never tell you that your inner garden needs to be ready to host this life inside of it.

I won’t stop pleading, even as the villain’s pawn. 
Free Palestine
Until the colonizers are gone
Free Free Palestine
Until everything is undone
Free Palestine
Until we have finally won

-Hawa Rahman